How fantasy sports prepare you for life, Part 1

Fantasy sports are often scoffed at, but in reality they can teach you many important life lessons. In defense of fantasy sports in general, and American League keeper leagues in specific, here are some lessons you learn while playing fantasy sports. This will be part one of a possibly ongoing series on how fantasy sports prepare you for life.

How to do your research- Of course, we all learn how to study while in school. But there's something about scholastic study that seems so clinical. How many times have you wondered "How will this help me in the real world?" Well fantasy research is a different animal. One great thing about it is that there's no right answer beforehand. Doing research for fantasy sports can lead you down a hundred paths and result in thousands of different possibilities. Unlike school studies when you strive to get the right answer, there is no right answer in fantasy sports, or in many of the real world's problems. You can win a fantasy league with dominant pitching, or dominant offense. You can focus on speed and average or you can punt them. You can punt saves or load up on them. You can stream starters or have a core of studs. In fantasy sports you take disparate opinions and make your own choices.


How to negotiate- Granted, most of us don't do much real world negotiation. Maybe you haggle on car price, or at a yard sale, but most of don't haggle on price too often. Still, this is a skill one must develop in fantasy sports. You have to evaluate what you need, as well as what the other guy needs and come up with an offer. In keeper leagues especially, this can be a complex process. There are also a few different negotiation strategies. I typically start with an offer that clearly favors me (not quite a lowball, at least in my eyes) and try to haggle towards something more equitable if necessary. Others like to try to nail it in one offer. Some like 2 for 1 trades, some don't.

How to lose- This one is especially true in keeper leagues. In one season leagues, if you're out of it you can just stop checking a team. But in a keeper league, much like in life, you're not going to come out ahead all the time. In both, you can't always just stop what you were doing, you have to persevere. Evaluating what went wrong, what you lacked, what moves were mistakes, as well as formulating a plan to fix the problem is something that isn't taught in schools. If you do poorly on a test, the reason is obvious, you didn't understand the material. In fantasy baseball as in life, the reasons for failure are myriad and nuanced.

By the way, for those interested, the Hotlanta report is finally up, cleverly inserted into June's posts like it was always there...